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Final (?) Itinerary Basque Spain & France: Look OK?

Hello,
Thanks to many of you for already providing valuable insights and links to more resources for our mid-September trip (pre-cruise from Barcelona). I've booked my flights today…so on to the next step…accommodations and length of time per stop. I'd love to hear your comments about both of these…especially if you think I should spend more time somewhere and less time somewhere else. I'm particularly unclear of how to best handle French Basque area.
Here's what I'm planning to do unless convinced otherwise.

Day 1 (Thursday): Arrive Bilbao airport 1500; Hotel Miro (we're arriving after 3 flights and 19hr. 20 min total flight time so might just have enough energy for pintxos nearby)

Day 2 (Friday): see Guggenheim, maybe Art Museum, then get bus to
San Sebastian; Sercotel Codina hotel.

Day 3 (Saturday): San Sebastian; Sercotel Codina hotel; get rental car at SS airport and tour Hondaribbia in afternoon

Day 4 (Sunday) drive to St. Jean de Luz, France; La Reserve Hotel

Day 5 (Monday) St. Jean de Luz; La Reserve Hotel (visit Biarritz)

Day 6 (Tuesday) St. Jean de Luz: La Reserve Hotel (visit mountain towns) OR Ainhoa; Ithurria Hotel OR spend another night at Hotel Arche in St. Etienne de Baigorry

Day 7 (Wednesday) St. Etienne de Baigorry; Hotel Arche

Day 8 (Thursday) drive to Ainsa, Spain; Los Siete Reyes

Day 9-12 (Friday-Monday) Return car in Barcelona; Condes de Barcelona

Day 12: Depart Barcelona on a 10 day Mediterranean cruise

Thanking you in advance for taking the time to respond during this busy holiday season!

f1racegirl, we'd see SS Friday afternoon and night, and Saturday morning and night (visiting Hondarribia as a day trip)….I haven't checked out the car rentals yet, but I read somewhere on this site that it's much cheaper to rent the car from the SS airport rather than in town. However, if that's not true…we'll get it from town. Even if it is true, we may still get it in town for convenience.

I originally wanted to add that Bilbao night to SS, taking the bus right from the airport, but I feel that a bus ride right after that long flight experience might be the straw that breaks our back!

Thanks JulieVikmanis…think it may be easier to stay in one hotel longer (St. Jean) than checking in and out of mountain inns.

Many (maybe most) non-food shops will be closed in St Jean & Biarritz on Sunday. Many will be closed on Monday morning also. Sunday & Monday morning are good days for visiting the countryside, mountains, or for coastal drive. I would stay Sun & Mon nights in St. Etienne de Baigorry & visit St Jean Pied du Port and the mountains. Then spend Tu & Wed in St Jean de Luz.

I hope you realize that it is a 4 1/2 hr mountain drive to Ainsa, and the next day a 4 hr drive to Barcelona. That's a lot of time in the car.

Here is part of my Pays Basque itinerary that I wrote for a friend.

This itinerary assumes that you are staying in a "central" spot like Sare - where we stayed for 2 weeks in 2012. We've also stayed in Osses for 2 weeks in about 2001.

The stars in the following text refers to the star ratings given by the Michelin Green Guide.

Things to do & see
1. La Rhune rack railway ***. Do this on a clear sunny day, and get there as early in the morning as possible so the sun will not be in your face for the view of Bayonne, Biarritz, & St Jean de Luz. It is just outside of Sare on the way to Ascain. Plan on 2 ½ hrs: 45 mins up & back, & 1 hr on top.

2. Espelette*, and Ainhoa* are our two favorite small villages in the immediate region (they really capture the Basque "look"). You can drive through Ainhoa, but you will need to park just outside of Espelette to visit it. Espelette is a great place for lunch. They have a nice Wednesday & Saturday morning market. Sare* is an appealing village - but we like Espelette & Ainhoa much more. Ascain* and Itxassou* are starred in the Michelin Green Guide - but we didn't think they deserved the stars. The D20 between Ainhoa and Espelette is a very scenic road. Take a tour of a typical historic Basque house http://www.ortillopitz.com/

La Rhune in the morning, Espelette for lunch & visit, followed by Ainoa would be a great day - but don't do it on a Sunday or Monday morning when shops are closed.

3. St Jean Pied de Port* is one of the most popular destinations in the Pays Basque. We stayed near there in Osses for 2 weeks in 2002. St Jean is a major stop on the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Campestela. You'll see lots of "shell" signs (symbolic of the pilgrimage) everywhere. St Jean is a tad touristy. It has one of our favorite restaurants in France. It's quite an interesting village, particularily if you explore outside the touristy center. It takes 1 hr to drive to St Jean from Sare.

4. Visit the Bidasoa Valley in Spain. From Sare, take the D406/NA4410 to Bera (which we did not find to be very interesting), then the N121A to Lesaka, Etxalar, Sunbilla, then the N121B back to Ainhoa. We took the N121A north into the Honarribia and the San Sebastian area several times.

Cities to visit

5. Bayonne** is the most interesting "old" city in the Pays Basque area and stradles the river (the "old" and the "older" towns on either side). We parked at the Place General de Gaulle (see the Michelin Red guide) at the north end of town. Follow the walking itinerary in the green guide. Shops close up tight for lunch, and the city is rather "dead" at night. Visiting Bayonne might consume most of a morning or afternoon. We thought the Musee Basque** was only mildly interesting.

6. Biarritz** is a very interesting resort town. Old mixing with the new!!! Just wander in town. Make sure you walk the western peninsula to the Rocher de la Vierge* and walk La Perspective for the views**. We spent most of a day in Biarritz - we sat in several grassy areas and just admired "things".

7. St Jean de Luz** is a great beach city. Lots of shops & a long beach. If you want to have a "beach day" - this is where to go. They have a nice Les Halles food market, and several well-stocked shops that sell Basque fabric which is unique (mainly stripes) & entirely different from the Provencal patterns. We purchased several "runners" that we use on our dining room. The Maison Louis XIV* was interesting to visit. We visited St Jean several times and parked near the train station.

8. San Sebastian** is one of the most popular destinations in Spain. We had dinner there one night and wandered around for about 1 hr before dinner. However, we were entirely un-prepared to drive into San Sebastian. We had a GPS - but we really didn't know how to use it. We did not have good maps. We got lost!! We never went back for a thorough visit because of the trouble we had getting there. You should go and plan to spend most of an entire day there. The restaurant where we dined was OK - not one of our favorites in the Pays Basque.

9. Hondarribia* in Spain was the real "surprise" of our trip to the Pays Basque. It is a fortified medieval "upper" town, with an interesting "fisherman's quarter" below. The latter would be a good place for a lunch; there are many choices. Our second favorite restaurant in the Pays Basque was Restaurant Alameda, just outside the fortified walls in Hondarribia. We visited the city several days before we dined at Alhambra - and actually parked near Alhambra to visit the city.

10. Bilbao and the Museo Guggenheim*** is a popular destination with museum folks. Friends really enjoyed the museum - but we are not museum fans & have not visited Bilbao

11 . Pau** (pg 247) is a "perplexing" city. It gets 2 stars from Michelin and the few people on Fodors who have visited Pau, have liked it. We've visited it twice and found it to be a "not very lively" city. We were there for the first time on a Saturday (market day) in about 2002 and the market was quite active - but there wasn't the "life" in the city that you would expect on market day. We were back in 2012, and the city had made many civic improvements. But on this "sunny day" (after a week of gloomy/rainy weather), there was still not much life in the city. We wandered down the main thoroughfare, we visited the chateau, my wife shopped at Galleries Lafayette while I dined at an outside cafe (two-thirds empty) - and there was still little life to this city. We simply didn't "connect" with Pau.

Scenic Drives

Most of the area east of the A63 is quite scenic. In addition to the D20 between Ainhoa and Espelette, the "Route Imperiale des Cimes" (the D22 between the D10 & St Pierre d'Irube) is very pretty. So is the road just to the east of the Imperiale des Cimes - the D76 between the A64 and the D22. At the "col" in this road, there is a very scenic picnic spot.

The Corniche Basque** is a short but scenic road. There is a nice view of Chateau d'Antoine Abladie** along this road. For some reason - we did not visit this chateau in 2012, but my wife remembered visiting it in 2002.

12. Deeper into the Pyrenees***
The following route is through "free-grazing" areas - so watch out for cows & other animals on the road. They have the right-of-way - and know it!!

From St Jean Pied du Port, take the very pretty D18/D19 southeast over the Col Bagargui*. Continue east on the D19 then the D26. Continue on the D26 to Tardets-Sorholus. At Tardets, return west on the D247/D117/D417/D18 to St Jean. From Sare, this is about 4 1/2 hrs in the car on a very scenic drive. You could visit St Jean Pied de Port at the start or end of this drive.

Stu, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for all the wonderful details…this is going to take awhile to digest. I did know about the closings on Sunday and Monday but had wanted to do the mountains second since we'd be driving from there to Ainsa…which I know is a long trip. But, we can change this and leave from the coast. I will look into your scenic drive recommendations…much appreciated. Also had thought about basing ourselves in the mountains but that perhaps it would be a pain to drive to the coast for some dinners in the dark through the mountains. I don't have time now but I look forward to reading your comments very carefully.

When we stayed in Osses - we got very tired of driving into the Biarritz area for dinners. We dined at Arche and had a great dinner. Our favorite in the immediate Osses area was Les Pyrenees in St Jean Pied du Port.

Here is the restaurants section of the itinerary I did for a friend:

Restaurants
We spend 2 months vacationing in different regions of France every year. We're "foodies", and dine at "nice" restaurants if the menu interests us. We try to find Michelin 1 star restaurants - and we'll occasionally dine at a 2 or 3 star restaurant for a special occasion.

The Pays Basque region in France and Spain had probably the best dining experiences we've encountered. We've spent 4 weeks in this region on two different trips.

It seems to me that you are shortchanging both San Sebastian / Donostia and Barcelona -- but maybe I don't understand your interests. You say, "we'd see SS Friday afternoon and night, and Saturday morning and night" -- but many things will be closed at night. And if I'm reading correctly, you are giving Barcelona only 2 days or so? Your call, but that would NOT be enough time for me. Have you plotted what you want to see and do on a calendar, with attention to opening hours, transportation, and other needs?

And as the San Sebastian airport is in Hondarribia and a short drive from St. Jean de Luz, I would have spent a couple of interrupted days to take in a little more of plain fantastic San Sebastian in peace and quiet. Then you could take a bus/taxi to Hondarribia, have lunch or something there, and then pick up the car and head into France.

I would have cut down on calm and expensive St Jean de Luz, and opened up more time for either San Sebastian, the Pyrenees or Barcelona.

I'm looking into your above comments….in between baking cookies and packing for a family trip…so I'll have to get back into this in the New Year. I am looking at consolidating the times in and out of hotels….perhaps just one hotel in French Basque area…and two whole days in Donostia.

We have already been to Barcelona and saw ALL the Gaudi, the Palau Musica, boat ride, Ramblas…so don't feel the need to spend a lot of time there. I mostly want to walk through the Born area and visit Montjuic…would like to just walk around Eixample neighborhood shops, but since we'll be there mostly on Sunday and Monday morning, they won't be open. (our ship leaves Monday afternoon) So, I'm thinking of dropping our third night there and keeping it to two nights to concentrate on the French and Spanish basque area which we haven't visited before. I think we'll get our share of great food there to compensate for missing Barcelona's offerings. Frankly, the extremely crowded tourist scene that I've been reading about in Barcelona isn't that appealing….and we don't need the beach as we live a block away from one now.

I must admit that Miro is not one of my favorite artists, but even so, I thought the museum well worth visiting. I took advantage of the "shorter" version audio guide, and definitely learned some things that helped me better appreciate his vision. (IIRC, the audio had a "short" and "long" option for each room -- an option I really appreciated!)

Yes, another worthy museum, also open (I believe) on Sundays. I find Picasso intriguing -- I adore some of his work, and (how shall I say) fail to fully appreciate other pieces, and that very dynamic pulls me in. I've been to a number of museums and exhibitions devoted to his work, and did not consider the one in Barcelona to be the best of those I've seen, but it did have some highlights. For example, I thought his Las Medinas tribute to Velázquez, which is housed at the Museu Picasso, fascinating, as was the collection of his ceramics (which I don't think I'd seen, or at least noticed, elsewhere). JMO.

The Miró museum blew my mind away when I visited this March. An important part of my most memorable day in Barcelona ever. Ended with out of this world Rocío Molina 300 meters down the road in the Mercat de les Flors theater and a suberb dinner in next door Xemei. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lvcjtoh0tU

Many people seem to walk the same tourist route in Barcelona, but also plenty of excellent local atmosphere central areas in town.

kimhe, thanks again for that wealth of recommendations! Will be printing this all out.
Although I'm not a fan of molecular gastronomy or "foam" foods…which is what I think of when I hear El Bulli, I'll investigate those mentioned…I've read so many good things aboutTickets.

I will recommend to you to stop in Sos del Rey Catolico in your way to Ainsa and also visit Alquezar both towns has lots of charm.
I will be in Spain also in September and i am going to travel to a Salt water spa near Alquezar.

For good reasons. Paradise versions of traditional tapas and beyond, not that much molecular gastronomy. Been here twive the past two years, fun and affordable for what you get. You still have time to book, must be done 60 days in advance at midnight Barcelona time. Ten mins after midnight, all tables are normally gone: http://www.theworlds50best.com/list/1-50-winners/Tickets

Well, I've finalized our itinerary and booked the hotels. Thanks again to many of you for your valuable comments. They definitely helped me decide on this itinerary.

Arriving in mid-September on a Thursday at Bilbao airport from the US, we'll be spending three nights in Donostia/San Sebastian at Pension Aldemar in the old town…which looks very nice and is lower cost with a water view, than Hotel Niza or Parma, which I'd been evaluating. I've also learned about a private taxi transfer service called Vallina in Donostia, which costs about 150E and can be reserved in advance. (Since we'll have been traveling for over 19 hours, with three different flights, this is money well spent).

We have to pick up our Europcar rental on Saturday morning (since everything's closed on Sunday) so will have to park one night in town (discounted rate through the Pension), but we'll use the car to visit Hondarribia Saturday afternoon and have lunch there.

On Sunday morning, we'll head to the mountains of France and spend one night in St. Etienne de Baigorry at Hotel Arce and eat dinner there. Monday morning, we can visit the market at St. Jean Pied de Port, before driving to St. Jean de Luz for three nights at La Reserve. Will take another day from St. Jean de Luz to see the Basque hill towns, Sare, Ainhoa and Espelette and take the little train up La Rhune.

On Thursday, we'll drive to Ainsa, Spain for one night at Los Siete Reyes, where there will be a town party going on.

On Friday, we drive to Barcelona where we'll spend three nights at Condes de Barcelona, where I plan to walk/shop in Eixample, walk around El Born and Barceloneta, spend Sunday on Montjuic, visit a market Monday morning, and then board our ship in the afternoon. (We've previously seen all the Gaudi sights)

Now, I just have to figure out where to eat! We're skipping all the Michelin stars in Donostia…just can't justify the cost. I'm sure we can find wonderful restaurants there without the pretension and exorbitant price tags.

My wife & I have visited between 50 & 80 different markets in France. We stay in Gites and cook around 25 meals at these gites each year - going back to 1999. We stayed for 2 weeks in Osses - just west of St Jean. The St Jean market is perhaps the smallest - least interesting of all the markets we've visited. We were there the first week in Sept. Visit the town - it is quite wonderful - but don't get your hopes up too high for the market.

"Now, I just have to figure out where to eat! We're skipping all the Michelin stars in Donostia…just can't justify the cost."

I was very pleased with two of kimhe's recommendations (thanks again! ) -- the Casa Urola and Restaurante La Muralla. I was also very pleased with the Restaurante Txulotxo (a Michelin Bib Gourmand) in nearby Pasai Donibane.

Very good idea to use the private taxi transfer service after 19 hours traveling!

Pension Aladamar is also a good choice. As central as it gets, yet relatively quiet as it's on the edge of the Parte vieja/Old town. Faces the Belle Epoque Victoria Eugenia theater, and next door to both the river and the fabulous La Bretxa food market.

I also use to skip the Michelin places here, there are so many fabulous "normal" restaurants in town where you can have fantastic meals for much less money. I've already mentioned Urola (also one of the two-three best pintxos bars in town on the ground floor) and La Muralla in the Parte vieja/Old town. And after our last visit now in October, I can also very much recommend Bodegón Alejandro as one of the absolute top "normal" restaurants in town. Two minutes from your hotel: http://www.bodegonalejandro.com/

(Ther's only one St. Sebastian up in heaven/And there's only one Donostia here on earth)

...text line from the San Sebastian march (1861) played every year during the Tamborrada/drum festival on January 20th. Here in the main Plaza de la Constitucion with the members of the Gaztelubide gastronomic society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvicuCr0eTY

Robert, we'd be at Casa Urola either Friday, Sept 9th or Sat. Sept 10th so it would be open then. It's sweet of you to offer to check though.

f1racgirl, I LOVED your blog! I'm putting Bar Azkena on my list for a mushroom omelette (and fresh squeezed OJ)! And, how DO you eat a barnacle? great photos, too! May have to check out La Perla Spa as well.

Whichever winery (bodega) you want to tour in the Rioja requires reservations. English language tours are typically limited to one each day during the week, but several now have wine bars where you can taste their wines without reservations.

We were in Casa Urola twice yesterday, once for a pintxo (Alcachofa y cardo navarro a la parrilla con crema de jamón y praliné salado de almendras - artichokes are in season) and wine, in the early afternoon, and again with our friends last night before going to the closing ceremony of the Tamborrada. The prices of wine and pintxos there are some of the best in Donostia's old quarter.

I much preferred both of the Basque regions in Spain and France to Barcelona. But a highlight for me in Barcelona was Fundacío Joan Miró up on Montjuic. The cruise ships' mobs, sadly, are taking a toll on Barcelona.

HappyTRvlr
I think I'm going to agree with your preference for Basque over Barcelona..I really debated cutting one night in Barcelona to add to Basque region, but then thought I really couldn't do anything in Barcelona with just one whole day (2 nights).
Robert, glad to hear Casa Urola is still a great find!

It took us 3 entire days just to view & absorb all the Gaudi stuff, Barri Gothic, other architecture, & area around Picasso museum. Stayed off the Ramblas & didn't see any evidence of cruise ship mobs. We were there the first week in Sept 2013.

It's pretty much the same comment you're starting to hear everywhere. Bilbao is building a new docking area and is due to double the number of landings this year. Thankfully they only hang around a short time and only swarm a few places.